Brick & Wonder Selects: October Inspiration

Brick & Wonder Selects:October Inspiration

In an age of "disruptive technology", we still believe in handshakes. Not because we're uneasy about contractual obligations, but because we want honoring contracts to be a matter of integrity, a tool for over-delivering value to our partners. It's a better way of doing business, and Seth Godin explains why that's the case here. (If you don't know who Seth Godin is, we highly recommend meeting him over on Dumbo Feather.)

Seth Godin. Photo by Tony Trichanh for Dumbo Feather.

Article we Loved:

Manhattan's incredibly successful High Line project, which converted an abandoned, elevated railway into a public park weaving down the West side of the island, has been the inspiration behind dozens of similar urban reclamation projects across the US. But the popularity of these projects can belie another story - one of long-time local residents pushed out of their neighborhood in the rush to develop the area and capitalize on the new public space.

A boy walks on abandoned railroad tracks in Chicago’s Pilsen neighborhood. In March, 2016 it was revealed that this track would be converted into a bike trail called El Paseo.

Book We're Reading:

Cultured Magazine contributor David Sokol has spent the past few years crisscrossing New York’s Hudson Valley in search of the area's most extraordinary architecture. This summer, his research culminated in Hudson Modern, an architecture book examining the visual language of significant residential projects in the Hudson Valley. The book is available for purchase here and you can read an interview with Sokol in Cultured mag here.

...the creative roots of this Hudson Valley modernism might, in fact, reach back to the very first American art movement.

House 432, designed by Robert Siegel, sits on a hill on a 4-acre parcel in Katonah, New York. Photograph by Paul Warchol.

What We're Listening To:

Tyler Hays may have been a small-town high-school dropout, but he did have above-average sewing skills and that, in the great game of life, can give you an edge. He's now the master craftsman behind a business doing tens of millions in revenue, managing 100 employees and serving a star-studded, international client base. We loved listening to this Business of Home interview with a master craftsman who can somehow turn every one of his hobbies into a new design trend.

Furniture Designs by Tyler Hays, founder of BDDW

Project we Love:

California-based artist Phillip K. Smith III has recently completed a project to illuminate an existing 100 ft long skybridge - and the result is mesmerizing. The structure spans the 16th floors of One Woodward and the Guardian Building, connecting two of Detroit’s most recognized buildings. Smith's 'Detroit Skybridge' features a shifting color program inspired by the materiality and tones of the two buildings it joins. Read more about the project on Design Boom and find out what we mean by 'mesmerizing' in the video below!

Detroit Skybridge, illuminated by Philip K. Smith III

The featured image in this story is of the LM Guest House by Desai Chia Architecture, which appears in David Sokol's Hudson Modern book. The photograph is by Paul Warchol.